Meet the Michigan wolf hunter who killed one of just two wolves checked in on Day 1 of the state's first hunt

View full sizeDNR wildlife research technician Erin Largent shows a tooth taken from a wolf killed by Jeff Powell at the Wakefield DNR station Friday, Nov. 15, 2013. The wolf was the second recorded kill in the Michigan's first wolf hunt. Powell is from Elkton in Huron County. The DNR takes a tooth to determine the age of the wolf.
Cory Morse | MLive.com

ONTONAGON COUNTY, MI -- Jeff Powell stands over the dead gray wolf, a smile spreading across his face beneath his hunter’s orange cap. Wildlife officials are removing a pre-molar tooth from the canine’s upper right jaw, to test for age.

The wolf is perhaps 80 pounds, a male, its jaw a jagged row of ripping power that equals as much as 1,500 pounds of force per square inch – twice a German Shepherd’s.

It is one of just two wolves checked in on the first day of Michigan’s first managed hunt – a testament to the wariness of the hunters' prey. The other, also an 80-pounder, was taken by a Jackson County man near Baraga, said wildlife technician Brad Johnson.

Powell was hunting deer in neighboring Gogebic County, as he has off and on since 1995. But he had one of 1,200 licenses to shoot wolves.

He used it not far from the Black River in at 10 a.m. Friday, from a deer blind along ridge lines by a cedar swamp.

“I just used a coyote caller a couple times just in case,” said Powell, 38, of Elkton in Huron County. “I knew bear hunters had had a lot of problems with wolves in that area”

There are five people in his hunting party. Four had both deer and wolf licenses.
“We haven’t really been up here for deer recently, because there haven’t been many. We actually see more wolf sign than we do deer. But when the opportunity to hunt wolves came up, we decided to give it a try.”

Jeff Powell, right, is congratulated by DNR wildlife assistant Kurt Hogue at the Wakefield DNR station after Powell successfully hunted a wolf Friday, Nov. 15, 2013. The wolf was the second recorded kill in the Michigan's first wolf hunt.Cory Morse | MLive.com

As he looked on, DNR wildlife research specialist Erin Largent removed the pre-molar and cut an incision inside the wolf’s right jaw through its eye socket to tag the animal. The technique preserves the pelt better for tanning or mounting.

Kurt Hogue, a DNR wildlife assistant, checked for mange or leg-trap injuries and found none.

“He’s a good-sized wolf,” Hogue said. “If he had lasted longer, he probably would have packed on another 20 pounds.”

The state’s other recorded wolf killing Friday was a few hours earlier in Baraga County to the north.That hunter asked not to be identified.

There are three wolf-hunting zones in the Upper Peninsula. The one where Powell hunted is the furthest west, designed because of nuisance complaints involving wolves, particularly In Ironwood. No more than 43 wolves can be taken out of a minimum population estimated at 658.Should Michigan have a wolf hunt again next year?Henry Londa was the only other hunter on Friday to visit the DNR’s wolf and deer check station in Wakefield Township, east of Ironwood. Many were still in the woods or at camp. Londa had an eight-point buck, three years old.

The Janesville, Wisc., man believes there are many more wolves in the state than the DNR estimates, perhaps double.

“We would like to see (wolves) brought under control better. They are just decimating the deer herd.”

Powell is leaving camp early because an elderly relative passed away in the evening. He is not yet certain what he will do with the wolf.

“We’re debating whether to turn it into a rug or a shoulder mount,” he smiled. “I have to talk to my wife.”